Profiting from diversity
Let’s start right off by saying that yes, we know the title of this article can be read in two ways; and no, we are not suggesting that businesses and business leaders should revert to some kind of divide and conquer relationship. On the other hand, the drive to improve diversity levels across organisations is […]
How to Create an Employee Wellness Program
Businesses lose a lot when their employees are ill. The CDC Foundation found in 2015 that “productivity losses linked to absenteeism cost employers $225.8 billion annually in the United States, or $1,685 per employee.” And the real cost of sickness is certainly higher when you think about sick or stressed employees who do show up […]
Why Equality Matters
All too often, the news reports that fill our screens are tales where something bad has happened, so it is lovely when a genuinely heart warming tale goes viral that reminds us all of the capacity we all have to make a positive difference to others, especially when they really need it. One such tale […]
Unlock your business voice with these 4 key questions
In my work as a presentation and public speaking coach, I meet a lot of people, working across a huge range of roles and industries, and through them, I hear all sorts of anecdotes set in the workplace. This gives me some really interesting insights into the ways people behave at work and around their […]
What interviewing techniques do you use?
Interviews are an opportunity to get information. The funnelling technique is a communication process to help ensure: The right type of questions are asked Detailed responses are given Accurate notes of the responses are captured “Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much” FRANCIS BACON Funnelling is a 3 stage process: Open Ask an […]
Better communication at work: how to stop waffling and get to the point
Whilst we might know exactly what we mean when trying to convey a message to others, there are many times when the true meaning simply gets lost in translation. It can be easy to assume that some people are just blessed with having “the gift of the gab” and that those who don’t have this […]
Practice Makes … Slightly Better than Eric?
Last week I wrote about Miss Wall, my childhood piano teacher. I came to be reminiscing about her because, after a long period of not playing the piano at all, I’d spontaneously bought a new book of music, when we were supposed to be buying floor tiles. (Trago Mills sells everything!) These days, playing the […]
Are you a Miss (or Mr) Wall to Learning?
I first started to learn to play the piano at the age of about 5, having shown an ‘inclination’ at a very young age. (I used to clamber on to the piano stool and bash at the keys, but hey, parents will cling to anything!) My first teacher had been my Dad’s. This was unfortunate, […]
Taking the pledge on gender diversity
In February 2018 the Chair of the Treasury select committee, Nicky Morgan, wrote to 33 financial services firms calling on them to sign the Women in Finance Charter*. Originally drawn up in 2016 the charter represents a joint commitment by HM Treasury and the financial sector to work together in order to deliver gender balance […]
Analysing resistance during a training session – what to do
As an anthropologist, I find the idea of resistance fascinating. When I used to teach, one of the books we focused on was Aihwa Ong’s Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia. In it, she explored the lives of young Malay women in the 1980s who began to work in factories. This […]
How HR can equip line managers to cope with conflict
Dealing with workplace conflict is the bane of many an HR manager’s working life. People accuse their manager of treating them unfairly. Power struggles emerge within teams. Colleagues fall out and refuse to co-operate with each other. Unfortunately, by the time the problem arrives at HR’s door, the conflict has often reached an advanced stage. Positions have become entrenched, […]
What is good customer service anyway?
At the end of last year, I was booked on a flight from Goa to Mumbai. Two hours before the flight, I received a text message from the airline saying the flight was cancelled due to bad weather. And that was it. You might assume that this was a budget operator, but no, this was from […]
Five Ways To Increase Your Mental Wellbeing…
In the modern always-on-world, where we are expected to be contactable 24/7, have a successful professional and personal life, as well as lead and inspire our teams, it is no wonder that our everyday mental resilience is often tested. So how do we identify if we are heading towards a tipping point where our resilience […]
Ulrich Boser: The 10 commandments of ‘learning to learn’
TrainingZone reports on the key takeaways from bestselling author and educational journalist Ulrich Boser’s opening address on day two of Learning Technologies 2018, which took place in London in February 2018. In day two’s keynote, Ulrich Boser explored how people really learn, arguing that ‘a lot of the conventional wisdom on learning is wrong’. Both in […]
Lessons from NASA: do you understand the ‘success trap?’
Success begets success, as the saying goes, but it can also ironically set the stage for avoidable mistakes and failures. Worse, greater success strengthens the influences that create this risk. This is true for an organization as it achieves more and more impressive wins, and it is just as true for each of us individually as we […]
How to remove the glass ceiling
The corporate glass ceiling is an unacknowledged barrier to advancement in a corporation. It is an invisible but real barrier through which the next stage or level of advancement can be seen, but cannot be reached. We hear and read about the desire and need to smash it to allow advancement. Smashing and broken glass […]
Training is a Serious Business – Isn’t It?
People’s reactions to words tell us a lot about their personal comfort zones and how they are changing. Nowadays, when discussing training, the word PowerPoint is as likely to provoke a grimace as a positive reaction, and almost everyone likes ‘participation’. (This wasn’t always the case – we went out on a limb in 2003 […]
Transparency, openness and outcome
No-one is an island runs the saying and in business that concept is certainly true. Interconnectedness abounds and not simply in complex worldwide supply chains. We see echoes of the same ideas across business approaches and strategies, across training methodologies and customer focus. Take for example the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) approach to conduct culture. […]
8 winning tactics for creating gold medal teamwork
This article was written by Mandy Flint & Elisabet Vinberg Hearn, authors of ”The Team Formula”. The Olympics are now in our rear view mirror. This is a good time to review and learn from the teamwork that goes into making an Olympian successful. Team GB had magnificent success at the Olympics. That kind of success […]
5 steps to building a winning team
In my last article I described five different team types including the Winning Team. The Winning Team is the one that gets exceptional results. Results which benefit the organisation(s) and clients they serve. (And they get results without exhausting themselves. That’s an important distinction as many teams get great results but at significant personal cost). These teams pay equal […]
